I'm not sure I have much use for any of them, certainly not the greys, and the most likely niche for the new Azura in particular I already have covered by the previous Azura variant, so that's a weird choice they made.

Design-wise though this might be the first Camilla who isn't totally ridiculous. But my roster is already overflowing with red swords I never use.

So, I tried out Warriors. I didn't really care for it. It's pretty much just swing your sword at a bunch of enemy dudes using the same button and run around. Also, I have a feeling there might be some twincest again. It's not as blatant as it was with Eirika and Ephraim, at least not yet, but I have a feeling it's coming.

Oh yeah, I guess that's another level of thirst I'm just gonna have to learn to live with as I continue my delve into Fire Emblem.

Warriors will probably live or die on a couple things, mainly how much the player cares about Dynasty Warriors, which is pretty much a love it or hate it series, and how much just having the Fire Emblem trappings matters. I gotta figure that if you're in the hate it column for Dynasty Warriors, you'd also have to one of the die-hardiest Fire Emblem die-hards to put up with a crossover with those mechanics.

At least it's kinda pretty.

e: I'm having trouble imagining a Warriors game using Fire Emblem's weapon triangle and it not being just 100% unmanageable chaos, but maybe that's only a concern against hero units and stuff.

Delthazar wrote:e: I'm having trouble imagining a Warriors game using Fire Emblem's weapon triangle and it not being just 100% unmanageable chaos, but maybe that's only a concern against hero units and stuff.

The early maps have a couple different characters out, who you can swap between at any time. So if you run into a hero unit with an axe, swap to a character with a sword and whap him.

I'm having fun playing it multiplayer (even though you can only play it split-screen and the mini-map is tiny and barely readable) but it isn't great, and if you don't like Warriors-style games then it's a definite pass.

Isn't there supposed to be a mainline Fire Emblem game coming out this year? I think they announced one via Nintendo Direct a while ago but there's been nothing since.

I haven't heard anything about a new mainline game. Echoes came out last May, though, so you might be thinking of that one? That one was seriously good, and there's no bullshit marriage/child system to worry about.

In Heroes, I just gave my Nowi a refined weapon and Renewal to fill her empty B skill slot. I created a monster... Glad she's a bonus hero for the Tempest Trials because I don't have any of the 40% bonus characters. My team with her on it usually survives all the way through, though.

Well, that's lame, they're all characters that I don't have. I feel like Tharja is just gonna win again. Picked Robin at random because I wanted him the most from the Christmas banner. Tempest Trials are still going on too, and the new January quests... I'm going to be busy for the next few hours.

Bier_Engel wrote:
Agreed. Why so many? I personally only have the regular Azura, but I have enough dancers in general to keep me covered.

Oh, I guess this new Azura is at least a flier, so at least she'd be the first dancer I can think of with that level of mobility. I wonder how useful that really is though. I always keep my dancers just behind the lines to hasten my heavier hitters from a safe position, while fliers are probably better at rapid deployment/hit-and-run/getting smoked by archers.

I got the Gunnthra from the legendary heroes focus. If I had more time I'd try to pull a Spring Lucina or something as well, but I should probably just start throwing all my orbs at the New Years banner.

Well, if you're crazier than I am about stats, you could use the IV calculator on the wiki to figure out which Amelia is "optimal" and then merge the other one into it, but just speaking for myself I kinda find the IV stuff a little too minmax-y and probably not all that important.

Like, if boons/banes really mattered, the in-game UI would surface that information to the player somehow, right? We wouldn't need to use a goddamned wiki calculator to figure it out. Pfft.

Yeah, I figure I torture myself enough just to get the characters I want, so worrying about optimal IVs on top of it would just make me mad if I finally got the wanted character but it had the "wrong" IVs. Both of my Brave Lyns were the same so I just kept both, heh. I don't really use armored units enough to keep both Amelias around, though. I might promote Effie and maybe give her Amelia's Armormarch and put them on a team together, or something. Black Knight could go in there too. I don't think there are any colorless armored units so I guess Arden would be the 4th member that I have? Then maybe I can do that quest where I beat the 10th stratum with all armored units finally.

I've been poking around various FE wikis and had a good laugh when I learned that it's possible for Tharja to marry Donnel. I'm gonna have to play Awakening and get those two crazy kids together.

(Donnel, BTW, is on my Halloween costume shortlist for this year)

Bier_Engel wrote:I haven't heard anything about a new mainline game. Echoes came out last May, though, so you might be thinking of that one?

Seems that Nintendo announced a new mainline FE last January but there's been zero news about it since, other than it's expected sometime in 2018. So there'll probably be a big infodump whenever Nintendo does their next Direct (this month?) or at TGS in September at the latest.

e: the next Nintendo Direct is rumoured to be happening on January 11th and is probably gonna be a big one since this'll be the first full year for the Switch.

Oh, cool. Well, if the new one is on the Switch, hopefully it's a traditional FE game. That'll help me get interested in buying the console earlier.

And yeah, most main units in Awakening can marry almost any other opposite sex main unit (Chrom is limited a bit for story purposes, but otherwise, go nuts). I usually marry Tharja to Gaius, as they're pretty cute together. She and Henry are obvious matches, too.

Don't forget about the special maps. There were like 3 daily maps I forgot to do and also 3 New Year's maps (not paralogues) that are only levels 5 and 15, and the New Year ones give 3 orbs apiece. I ended up with over 30 orbs after those and the gauntlet quests this morning, but only netted a 5-star child Tiki which I already had.

Haven't pulled a New Year's unit yet. Did a voting battle recently with someone's Anna who had replaced her normal axe with Christmas Chrom's big sack. I thought that was funny.

Next focus has Rhajat in it whom I definitely recommend if you didn't get her last time. I still can't decide which weapon to give her via refinement. A lot of the builds I see people post don't always take that into account.

Wow, that person either really likes Anna, or had extra Christmas Chroms. I don't like sacrificing 5-star units unless I already have a duplicate, even if I don't use them.

Yeah, don't have Rhajat, and never went for her last time because I already have so many green mages. Then again, I guess I already have enough of everything else, too. I'm lacking a lot of the better blue mages, though. Still need Delthea and Linde.

I've been putting a little more time into Rhajat lately and a pretty serious argument could be made for her as an anti-cavalry unit. A speedy mage who can one-shot most poor horsies from range even with a triangle disadvantage is a solid niche.

Plus sometimes when you select her in battle she says "it's Rhajat" in a tone of voice not unlike someone answering a phone call they really don't wanna take.